


The Very Air I Breathe

by graciegirl2001



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, No beta we die like repressed homosexual feelings, dreamnotfound, if you’re my FMA followers seeing this... keep scrolling, mcyt - Freeform, they have A TalkTM, you didn’t see anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graciegirl2001/pseuds/graciegirl2001
Summary: No one had warned George that falling in love with your best friend was agonizing. Wonderful. Terrifying. Because in the end, they are Dream and George, George and Dream, and that is far more important than his curiosity at what it would feel like to intertwine their fingers. There is too much on the line for George to be making brash comments like this, but they slip past his lips without a second thought.
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 192





	The Very Air I Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> I spent too much time tinfoil-hatting *certain interactions* as of late and decided to write something. Hope you enjoy!

“You get all red when you’re around me.”

Dream doesn’t respond, other than to chuckle nervously, and George frowns. He’s been at this game all day, making offhand comments and goofy reactions in hopes of getting some legitimate response from his best friend. But Dream has been unusually quiet. Where he would ordinarily be doubled over with laughter, or sputtering out a surprised _“What??”_ or _“George!”_ he instead stays silent. They still continue their banter as they come up with creative ways to entertain themselves on the SMP, but anytime George crosses into flirtatious territory, Dream freezes up.

It’s infuriating really.

They have been playing this game of cat and mouse for years now. George gives an inch and Dream takes a mile. They constantly push and pull and tease and joke… (and that’s the key, it’s all just a joke), but… things have become different as of late. 

The comments have become charged with something inexplicable and dangerous. Now, when George rolls his eyes after Dream tells him he looks handsome, his stomach betrays him with somersaults, and his face turns red. Now, when they both see a dono at the same time asking if they’re secretly in love with each other, an uncomfortable silence stretches over the discord call. 

George isn’t sure when the switch happened, but what he is sure about is that they can’t go on like this. Dream has stopped saying “I love you,” when he wishes George goodnight, and he feels the absence like a hole in his chest. It never meant anything before- well anything past platonic care for a friend- but George still misses the way the words warmed him, leaving him staring up at the ceiling with butterflies in his stomach as he tried to sleep. 

No one had warned him that falling in love with your best friend was agonizing. Wonderful. Terrifying. Because in the end, they are Dream and George, George and Dream, and that is far more important than his curiosity at what it would feel like to intertwine their fingers. There is too much on the line for George to be making brash comments like this, but they slip past his lips without a second thought. 

When Dream chides Ranboo’s “DNF” answer in Quiplash for not being realistic, George can’t help the “Well…” that escapes him. He expects Dream to giggle, and call him an idiot, but there is nothing, _nothing,_ and George wants to scream. 

For what is probably the first time in George’s life, he can’t read his best friend. Which means Dream is hiding.

Dream has always been a very emotionally available person, wearing his heart on his sleeve. If he’s angry, George knows. If he’s embarrassed, George knows. But lately, Dream has been pulling back, keeping his cards close to his chest. George feels at a loss.

They finish the jackbox game, and everyone wishes each other goodnight as they leave the call. George’s mouse hovers over the “x” in the corner of the discord window, before he stops. Instead, he joins a random empty vc. He knows Dream will follow him there. How he knows, he’s not quite sure. But like clockwork, the ping of someone joining the voice chat sounds a minute later. 

“Hi,” he says lamely, ignoring the way his heart is pounding uncharacteristically. He has never been nervous to be alone in a call with Dream before, so why now?

“Hey,” Dream replies, equally hesitant.

The call is quiet.

“It’s late,” Dream says.

 _There it is, his escape route._ It’s odd. Dream has never needed escape routes with him before. 

“Not for me,” George replies. It is a challenge, and he knows it.

“Yeah well some of us need sleep,” Dream huffs back, and George can almost see the way he rubs a hand across his face. 

“Then why did you join the call?”

That stumps him. 

They are silent for another moment. George tries and fails to keep his breathing even. 

“George…”

George waits, but Dream doesn’t finish the thought, trailing off. George rocks back in his chair staring intently at the little green icon on his screen. He needs Dream to say something- anything. He needs it like he needs to breathe, but the silence stretches on, choking him. 

“I visited my mum today,” he says, knowing full well that it is a distraction and that he is a coward. “She sent me home with like ten servings of casserole.”

“Hm.”

George bites his lip. “Have you eaten yet Dream? You probably haven’t.”

“I had a little something earlier but…” He doesn’t finish the sentence.

George feels like crying. Why does it have to be this hard? Why can’t they talk anymore? He longs for the ease of late night conversations a few months ago- where they talked about everything and nothing into the late hours of the night. He longs for the way Dream’s voice grew soft, for the way George could hear him smiling as they told stories from their childhood. 

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot recently,” George says, gripping the sides of his chair. His mind screams at him to stop. This territory is dangerous and he knows it. 

“Yeah?” Dream asks, a little breathless.

“Yeah. I’ve been worried. Confused.”

He hears Dream shift in his seat. “What about.”

George winces. “I don’t know, you’ve just been acting weird lately.”

“Have I?” 

So he’s just going to keep playing the game, is he? George could tear his hair out. 

“Yeah. You have,” the words come out with more bite than he intends them to. “You don’t talk to me.”

“I’m talking to you right now.”

George grits his teeth. He’s sick and tired of this. The teasing and sarcasm had been fine when it was all a joke. But here, it stings. He fights to keep his cool.

“This isn’t really talking and you know it.”

Dream lets out a long sigh. “I’m tired George.”

“Then leave the fucking call.” The coldness in his tone surprises him.

Neither one of them dares to breathe for a few moments. 

“Why are you being like this?” Dream’s wounded voice rings out. He is trying to maintain composure, but George can tell the outburst has shaken him. 

“Me? Why am I being like this?” George laughs without humor, exasperated. “I’m not the one ignoring my best friend for days on end and acting like a different person. Something is wrong and you’re not telling me.”

“Nothing is wrong, George,” Dream sounds scared. George knows he is debating leaving the call, his mouse hovering over the “leave” button, his lip between his teeth. That can’t happen.

So he presses harder. “Then why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not avoiding you,” Dream’s words come out clipped.

“And I’m not an idiot. You can lie to everyone else…” he pauses, leaning forward. “But not to me.”

“Leave me be George… it’s not a big deal.” 

“No.” George grips the fabric of his hoodie like a vice. “No I won’t. Not until we talk. Really talk.” He’s pushing Dream over the edge, he knows. He’s gone too far now, and Dream is bound to snap. George doesn’t care. “We don’t lie to each other, Dream. That’s not what we do.”

Silence.

“I’m a grown man, you don’t need to protect my feelings. Just spit it out.” 

Deafening… horrible silence. 

George knows what’s coming. He knows that this is where Dream calls him out for his behavior the past few days, then will inevitably reject him. George has been preparing for it for a while now, and has since come to terms with it. He knows exactly what Dream will say, how he will say it and how he will respond. How he will smile and tell him that it’s okay, and they can still be friends, despite knowing it will never be the same. 

He’s desperate now. “I want you to drop the act. Just this once.”

Dream’s reply is uncharacteristically quiet. “What act?”

“This. Whatever this _thing_ is between you and I. There’s no one watching right now expecting us to put on a stupid little show. So quit pretending.”

“You think it’s an act?”

George’s heart skips a beat.

“Well- yes. Yeah I do.” George feels a pang in his chest at the statement. These words are sharpened, designed to hurt. Why? Why is he so desperate to amplify the pain in the other man’s voice? Make him writhe in his seat? It never used to be like this.

“All of it? All of- us? You think it’s just me playing a part?”

“What else am I supposed to believe Dream-”

“No. Shut up,” Dream snaps. 

George scoffs. “Why you-”

“I have been your best friend for five years.” 

The words hit him like a truck. Dream continues. 

“I’ve seen you and been there for you when you are at your absolute worst. I have told you things that I don’t even tell my mom or Sapnap. I stay awake on call with you on nights you can’t sleep. I hang up on one conversation and start counting the minutes to our next one. You’re telling me that’s all for show? You really think that’s fake??”

Blood pounds in George’s ears so loud he is sure Dream can hear it over the headset. His hands feel cold and clammy. 

“I-”

“I knew you were stupid George, but I didn’t think you were this stupid,” Dream is angry, furious even, but there’s a familiar fondness underneath the white hot words.

George fights to regain ground. “No. No that’s not it. It’s… well-” He grasps for words in a panic. “I know you play up... some...things for the views. And I just want you to know you don’t have to.” _Not enough._ “You… shouldn’t.” _He has to stand his ground._ “You can’t. Because-” 

_Because I can’t keep it up anymore. Because it’s a reminder of what I can’t have. Because it hurts. Oh, Dream, you don’t understand how much it hurts._

Dream is quiet for a moment. When he opens his mouth again the anger is gone, replaced by something George is all too familiar with, and not at all expecting: yearning.

“ _That_ part… it was pretend.”

Oh.

“At first.”

_Oh._

Dream drags in a long breath, then let’s it out. George is afraid to move.

“George…”

A shiver runs down his spine at the softness in his tone.

“George, I’m not lying when I call you handsome.”

His nails dig into his forearms.

“And smart. And wonderful.”

He feels dizzy.

“And I have always loved you, but when I say it now, it’s different. It’s terrifying.”

The air is suffocating, but in a different way than before. George intakes a sharp breath.

“I love you George,” Dream says, finally, purposefully. 

“You love me?”

“I do. I’m sorry, but I can’t hold it back anymore. I’ve tried, and I can’t.” George hears the sad smile that creeps into his voice. “I never have been able to hide anything from you.”

“You love me.”

“I do.”

“For real?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my god.”

George covers his burning red face with his hands.

Dream sighs. “Please don’t tell Sapnap.”

“I can’t fucking believe this.”

“I know, I know it’s bad. But I swear, I won’t make things awkward. I understand that you don’t feel the same, and I care far more about our friendship than any- than anything else that might- yeah.”

George snaps his head up. “Wait what?”

“Just pretend it never happened. It’s fine. I’ll be fine.”

“Nonono hold on Dream.”

“Look I know Sapnap would think my love confession was absolutely hilarious but I’m serious about this. I don’t know what I would do if-”

“Dream you absolute, fucking _moron!_ ” George groans, grinning madly.

“What??”

“ _I’m_ in love with _you_!”

Dream is speechless.

“You-”

“Yes, yes you dunce I’m so in love with you I don’t know what to do with myself, and I’ve been carrying that with me in secret for I don’t know how long, and all this time you….” George laughs, revelling in the relief and joy that shoots through his body. “You love me.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Well shit.”

They both hold their breath for an uncomfortably long moment before bursting into a fit of giggles.

“This whole time??” Dream asks in disbelief.

“This whole time.”

“We are so stupid.”

“Mostly you.”

Dream snorts and George smiles impossibly wider.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And you love me.”

“Are you just going to keep saying that?” Dream chuckles.

George shakes his head, marveling at this new reality. “Until I believe it’s real.”

“It’s real George. And I’ll keep telling you until there’s no shadow of a doubt that I am most definitely in love with you.”

George closes his eyes, leaning back. His voice is soft. 

“In that case… say it again...Just once more.”

And so Dream does.  
  



End file.
